Documentaries

Soul of A People: Writing America's Story - A ground-breaking documentary on 1930s America and the Federal Writers' Project, which documented in riveting detail life during the Great Depression and helped launch talents such as Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, John Cheever, Richard Wright, Studs Terkel, Margaret Walker, Nelson Algren, and Jim Thompson. For more on this topic, read the Village Voice article about Ellison's Harlem before Invisible Man, the Smithsonian article on the WPA Guides, and about the friendship between Wright and Algren in The American Scholar. And see whether Jim Thompson produced the darkest guidebook ever, before he wrote The Killer Inside Me (New in Downloads).

Watch a short promo for the film, nominated for the 2010 WGA award for best documentary. The film also received a 2010 CINE Golden Eagle award. Order the dvd here.

A pamphlet produced by the American Library Association sets the stage (available in Downloads). And learn about documentary pioneer Leo Seltzer, whose work appears in the film, in David's post for the Writer's Center blog, First Person Plural.

Find out about Soul of a People events near you from the American Library Association website, including a brochure about the film (also under downloads). Check David's Soul of a People blog and Spark Media's production blog for upcoming screenings.

The book of Soul of a People contains more of their stories. You can download chapters at Wiley & Sons. Get the book from an independent book store near you, or from these online sellers: Powells, Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Watch the Book TV program on Soul of a People here.

Do you have a firsthand story of a Writers' Project worker, or of using the WPA travel guides? Send it here.

More Documentaries

Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways, the story of the little pirate record label with the global reach, premiered October 25 on the Smithsonian ChannelHD. It too won a 2010 CINE Golden Eagle award. Watch a trailer.

Partners of the Heart, PBS's "American Experience" - A documentary on breaking taboos in medicine and society.

"Reflections on Being Blue," "Vivien's Baltimore," and "Breaking Down the Walls of Medicine" - Special features on the DVD Partners of the Heart. "Reflections on Being Blue" received a CINE Golden Eagle award.

Endangered Animals: Survivors on the Brink, National Geographic - An educational film; silver winner at the Cindy Awards.

Southeast Asia Cinemas Conference, held in Jakarta, Indonesia, 2007

Television series
The FBI Files, Discovery Channel - "Shattered Shield"
The FBI Files, Discovery Channel - "Moving Target"
The FBI Files, Discovery Channel - "Cracking the Cartel"

Great Castles of Europe, The Learning Channel - "Odescalchi, Malbork and Wawel"
Great Palaces of the World, The Learning Channel - "Bangkok's Grand Palace"

Other film projects
"Strikers," a script for a 25-minute one-act film: Honored in the New England Screenwriting Competition and the Woods Hole Film Festival Screenplay Contest.

Web features
"King Cobra," National Geographic
"Wave Soaring," National Geographic